Mean
English Pronunciation * , , * *: Etymology 1 From . Confer Dutch , German . Cognate with mind and German . Verb # To convey, signify, or indicate. #: What does this hieroglyph '''mean'?'' #: The sky is red this morning—does that '''mean' we're in for a storm?'' # To want or intend to convey. #: I'm afraid I don't understand what you '''mean'.'' #: Say what you '''mean' and mean what you say.'' # To intend; to plan on doing. #: I didn't '''mean' to knock your tooth out.'' #: I mean to go to Baddeck this summer. #: I meant to take the car in for a smog check, but it slipped my mind. # To have conviction in what one says. #: Does she really '''mean' what she said to him last night?'' #: Say what you mean and '''mean' what you say.'' # To have intentions of a some kind. #: Don't be angry; she '''meant' well.'' #: Someone's coming up. He '''means' business.'' # To result in; to bring about. #: One faltering step '''means' certain death.'' Usage notes * In sense 3, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs * In sense 6, it takes the gerund (-ing). Synonyms * (convey, signify, indicate): convey, indicate, signify * (want or intend to convey): imply, mean to say * (intend; plan on doing): intend * (have conviction in what one says): be serious * (have intentions of a some kind): * (result in; bring about): bring about, cause, lead to, result in Translations * Arabic: (`anaa) * Catalan: * Chinese: *: Mandarin: 意味 (yìwèi), 是...的意思 (shì...-de yìsi) * Czech: * Danish: * Dutch: betekenen, willen zeggen * Esperanto: voli diri, signifi * Finnish: , * French: , * German: * Hungarian: * Italian: * Japanese: 意味する (imi suru) * Korean: 의미하다 (uimihada) * Norwegian: * Polish: * Portuguese: * Romanian: a semnifica, indica, * Russian: , * Scottish Gaelic: * Spanish: , * Swedish: , * Danish: * Dutch: * Esperanto: , * French: * German: , * Hebrew: (hitkaven) * Italian: * Japanese: 意味する (imi-suru) * Portuguese: querer dizer * Romanian: a vrea să spună * Russian: * Spanish: querer decir * Swedish: mena, syfta på * Catalan: * Czech: , * Dutch: willen doen, van plan zijn * Esperanto: * Finnish: * French: avoir l'intention de * German: * Italian: volere, avere l'intenzione di * Japanese: 意図する (いとする, ito-suru), するつもり (suru-tsumori) * Polish: * Portuguese: tencionar, ter a intenção de * Romanian: , , * Russian: * Spanish: , * Swedish: * Dutch: * German: * Italian: * Japanese: 意味する (imi-suru) * Portuguese: manter uma opinião, falar sério * Romanian: am convingerea * Russian: иметь в виду (im'ét' v vidú), * Spanish: decir en serio * Swedish: * Dutch: , * Esperanto: * Italian: * Japanese: 意図する (いとする, ito-suru), するつもり (suru-tsumori) * Russian: * Spanish: proponerse * Swedish: * Dutch: * Esperanto: * German: * Italian: , , * Japanese: 意味する (imi-suru) * Portuguese: * Russian: , * Spanish: (un resultado) * Swedish: betyda, innebära * : berarti, artinya, bermaksud, maksudnya * : signifikar * : voler dicer (1); significar (2); intender, haber le intention de (3); mantener un opinion (4) Noun # An intermediate step or intermediate steps. Quotations Etymology 2 mene, imene "common" from ġemǣne "common". Confer Dutch , German , Gothic . Cognate with Latin . Adjective # Causing or intending to cause intentional harm; bearing ill will towards another; cruel; malicious. #: Watch out for her, she's '''mean'. I said good morning to her, and she punched me in the nose.'' # Miserly; stingy. #: He's so '''mean'. I've never seen him spend so much as five pounds on presents for his children. # Selfish; acting without consideration of others; unkind. #: It was '''mean' to steal the girl's piggy bank, but he just had to get uptown and he had no cash of his own.'' # Powerful; fierce; harsh; damaging. #: It must have been a '''mean' typhoon that levelled this town.'' # Accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with. #: Your mother can roll a '''mean' cigarette.'' #: He hits a '''mean' backhand''. # Low in quality; inferior. Synonyms * (causing or intending to cause intentional harm): cruel, malicious, nasty, spiteful * See also Wikisaurus:stingy * (acting without consideration of others): selfish, unkind * (powerful): damaging, fierce, harsh, strong * (accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with): deft, skilful (UK), skillful (US), top-notch * (inferior): cheap, grotty (slang), inferior, low-quality, naff (UK slang), rough and ready, shoddy, tacky (informal) Derived terms * meanie * meanness * meany Translations * Arabic: , * Dutch: gemeen, gemene, boosaardig, boosaardige * Esperanto: , * Finnish: * German: * Greek: * Italian: , , , * Japanese: どうかしている (dōka-shiteiru) * Kurdish: * Portuguese: , * Russian: , * Spanish: , , , , * Swedish: * Italian: , , * Spanish: , * Turkish: * Dutch: * Esperanto: , * German: , * Greek: * Italian: , , * Japanese: 意地が悪い (iji-ga-warui), 意地悪 (ijiwaru) * Kurdish: * Portuguese: , * Russian: * Spanish: desconsiderado , desconsiderada * Swedish: , * Dutch: * Greek: * Italian: , , * Japanese: 厄介な (yakkai-na) * Spanish: * Dutch: minderwaardig, minderwaardige * Esperanto: malbonkvalita * French: , * German: * Greek: * Italian: , , * Japanese: 悪い (warui) * Spanish: , , * Italian: , , , * Spanish: * : 卑鄙 (bēibǐ) * : buruk hati, kikir, pemarah, rata-rata * : mal, perverse, contemptibile (1); inferior (2); insuperabile, superior (3) Etymology 3 From , from (French ), Late Latin , from . Cognate with . Adjective # Having the mean (see noun below) as its value. Derived terms * mean distance * mean time * mean solar time * mean sun Related terms * medium * mediate * mediation * mediator * median * mediocre * mediocrity Translations * Armenian: * Catalan: * Dutch: , * Esperanto: * Finnish: * French: * German: Mittel- * Greek: , , * Interlingua: medie * Italian: * Japanese: 平均の (heikin-no), 平均的な (heikinteki-na) * Portuguese: * Romanian: * Russian: * Spanish: * Swedish: genomsnittlig, medel- Noun # The average, the arithmetic mean. # Loosely, an intermediate value or range of values; a mid-value; a vague average. #* #* #* 1875, William Smith and Samuel Cheetham, editors, A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, Little, Brown and Company, volume 1, page 10, s.v. Accentus Ecclesiasticus, #*: It presents a sort of mean between speech and song, continually inclining towards the latter, never altogether leaving its hold on the former; it is speech, though always attuned speech, in passages of average interest and importance; it is song, though always distinct and articulate song, in passages demanding more fervid utterance. # Any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency. #* 1997, Angus Deaton, The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconometric Approach to Development Policy,http://books.google.com/books?id=5Lp_p6bLD2IC World Bank Publications, ISBN 9780801852541, page 51: #*: Note that (1.41) is simply the probability-weighted mean without any explicit allowance for the stratification; each observation is weighted by its inflation factor and the total divided by the total of the inflation factors for the survey. #* 2002, Clifford A. Pickover, The Mathematics of Oz: Mental Gymnastics from Beyond the Edge,http://books.google.com/books?id=4qA2qZhVb9AC Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521016780, page 246: #*: Luckily, even though the arithmetic mean is unusable, both the harmonic and geometric means settle to precise values as the amount of data increases. #* 2003, P. S. Bullen, Handbook of Means and Their Inequalities,http://books.google.com/books?id=GybdNuNsarIC Springer, ISBN 978-1-4020-1522-9, page 251: #*: The generalized power means include power means, certain Gini means, in particular the counter-harmonic means. # Either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2'' and ''3 in 1:2=3:6. #* 1825, John Farrar, translator, An Elementary Treatise on Arithmetic by Silvestre François Lacroix, third edition, page 102, #*: ...if four numbers be in proportion, the product of the first and last, or of the two extremes, is equal to the product of the second and third, or of the two '''means. #* '''1999, Dawn B. Sova, How to Solve Word Problems in Geometry, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 007134652X, page 85, #*: Using the means-extremes property of proportions, you know that the product of the extremes equals the product of the means. The ratio t''/4 = 5/2 can be rewritten as ''t:4 = 5:2, in which the extremes are t'' and 2, and the '''means' are 4 and 5. #* 2007, Carolyn C. Wheater, Homework Helpers: Geometry, Career Press, ISBN 1564147215, page 99, #*: In \frac{18}{27}=\frac23 , the product of the means is 2\cdot27 , and the product of the extremes is 18\cdot3 . Both products are 54. Hypernyms * measure of central tendency, measure of location, sample statistic Coordinate terms * median, mode See also * spread, range Derived terms * arithmetic mean * Cesàro mean * Chisini mean * contraharmonic mean * [[generalised f-mean|generalised f''-mean]] * [[generalized f-mean|generalized ''f-mean]] * geometric mean * harmonic mean * Heronian mean * Hölder mean * logarithmic mean * power mean * quadratic mean * quasi-arithmetic mean * root mean square Translations * Catalan: * Czech: * Italian: * Romanian: * Scottish Gaelic: * Spanish: * Greek: μέσος όρος (mésos óros) * Italian: * Scottish Gaelic: * Dutch: * Finnish: * French: * German: * Indonesian: rata-rata * Interlingua: media * Italian: * Japanese: 平均 (へいきん, hēkin), 平均値 (へいきんち, hēkinchi) * Portuguese: * Romanian: mijloc, mediu, medie * Spanish: * Swedish: , Anagrams * * amen * mane * MENA * name, NAmE * nema, NEMA * NMEA Category:English irregular verbs Category:English words with multiple etymologies ---- Manx Etymology From < . Noun # centre, middle #* eh ee ny mean ny . #** He left her standing in the middle of the room. #* çhyndaa ayns mean ny h- na goll er vaih. #** Better to change horses in mid ford than to drown. # interior #* ayns mean y killagh. #** Come into the body of the church. # average #* Trogmayd mean. #** We will strike an average. Derived terms * * ---- Spanish Verb # # cs:mean et:mean el:mean es:mean fa:mean fr:mean fy:mean gl:mean ko:mean io:mean it:mean kn:mean kk:mean ku:mean lo:mean hu:mean ml:mean nl:mean ja:mean no:mean oc:mean pl:mean pt:mean ro:mean ru:mean simple:mean fi:mean sv:mean ta:mean te:mean th:mean tr:mean uk:mean vi:mean zh:mean